Kalmadi wants JPC into CWG scam

New Delhi: Pained by reports of his alleged involvement in Commonwealth Games-related scam, former Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi on Sunday said he would resign as Member of Parliament in case any proof of him having taken even a single rupee surfaces.

“I can vouch that I have not gained financially even a single rupee out of these games and if proved otherwise I am prepared to step down as a Member of Parliament,” Kalmadi said in a statement.

“I am deeply pained and constrained at the malicious campaign going against me regarding Commonwealth Games 2010. The stories going around are far from actual facts,” he said in the statement.

Kalmadi, who was sacked as CWG OC head recently after Ajay Maken took over as the sport minister, also demanded the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the issues surrounding the Commonwealth Games if the government agrees to form a JPC in the 2G Spectrum scam.

“Were the government to agree to constitution of a JPC into the 2G Spectrum issue it would only be fair a similar process of Joint Parliamentary Committee should go into the entire range of issues connected with preparations, executions and conduct of the Commonwealth Games. I am confident that this would enable the entire truth to emerge in the public domain,” said Kalmadi.

The IOA president, who is an MP from Pune, re-iterated his oft-repeated claim that the OC budget was a very small amount of the total fund sanctioned for the Commonwealth Games.

“The OC budget for conducting the Games was just about 5% of the total budget of CWG. In spite of this, I am the only one who have been singled out and targeted for investigations while the role of all other government agencies including Delhi Government and various other Central Government instrumental agencies connected with the decision making process, who have been associated with 95% of the budget, have been completely overlooked,” Kalmadi said.

Kalmadi said all the decisions related to the Games were taken collectively and there were also government nominees overseeing every process.

He admitted that there were mistakes made on the organisational front of the Commonwealth Games but said it was due to the fact that India was hosting a multi-sporting event for the first time after the 1982 Asian Games.

“My only endeavour was to deliver the best games so that we could stake our claim for hosting the Olympics in India. I do admit that there may have been certain mistakes committed in the management as we have not hosted any big event like this after the Asiad 1982 and we lacked the requisite experience and knowhow. But attaching the corruption charge on me is totally unfair”, he said.

“The sports fraternity -- from athletes to officials and international media -- have lauded the success of the Games and termed it the best ever CWG. Yet, my reputation has been greatly harmed by the continuous allegations of wrong doing with regular media bashing.

“The Commonwealth Games 2010, were conducted in India after 28 years. It was the largest international multi-sport event to be staged in Delhi and India, and the world hailed the Games as the best ever hosted since the inception of the Commonwealth Games,” he said.